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NYer accused of One Fund scam fights extradition

TROY, N.Y. (AP) — An upstate New York woman accused of scamming almost half a million dollars from the fund for Boston Marathon bombing victims is fighting extradition to Massachusetts.

Audrea Gause, 26, refused Tuesday to waive her right to an extradition hearing and go voluntarily to face a larceny charge, Troy City Court officials said.

The Troy woman was arrested Friday and is being held on a fugitive warrant.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said Gause got a $480,000 check from One Fund Boston after using faked medical records to claim she was treated at hospitals in Boston and in New York for a traumatic brain injury suffered in the bombings.

Coakley said authorities got a tip that Gause may not have been in Boston on the day of the marathon, and the hospitals later said they didn't treat her.

Authorities are trying to recover the money given to Gause, with the goal of distributing it to victims.

The fund was created after the bombing and has collected more than $64 million.

Gause was paid after claiming she had a brain injury from the bombing and experienced long-term memory loss, impaired speech and loss of some motor function that would require future surgery.

Gause's lawyer, Charles Wilcox, said Tuesday she denies any wrongdoing and wants the hearing requiring Massachusetts prosecutors to show probable cause she committed the crime and was in that state at the time.

Officials said she is due back in city court on Aug. 20, but an extradition hearing could be scheduled in Rensselaer County court.